Inside Lenz Network

ESTER BENJAMIN SHIFREN is a published author, artist, musician, and dynamic international speaker. In 2005, she was featured in the British BBC1 program “We’ll Meet Again,” and was a guest lecturer for several days at the Imperial War Museum.Ester’s book “Hiding in a Cave of Trunks” details all facets of Shanghai’s colorful multi-ethnic population as she relates the saga of her family’s century-long existence in China. In 1943 their privileged lifestyle was abruptly terminated by internment in a Japanese POW camp. In 1948 they relocated to Hong Kong, where the Korean War embargo eventually caused their financial collapse. Ester will also discuss the techniques she used to weave history into her fascinating memoir. Endorsed as a “must read” by authorities on Shanghai’s Jewish history, Chinese Professors Pan Guang and Xu Xin, and Jerusalem Professor Yitzchak Kerem, authority on Sephardic and Eastern Jewry.